Universities begin classes this week. There are eight universities in New Zealand: the University of Auckland and the Auckland University of Technology are both in Auckland. Massey University has a campus in Auckland and in Palmerston North. Massey also has a large number of distance students who do not attend classes. They study at home, using the internet or mail. Waikato University and Victoria University of Wellington are also in the North Island. There are three universities in the South Island: Canterbury, Lincoln and Otago. Auckland university is the largest in New Zealand with about 40,000 students while Lincoln is the smallest with about 10,000.
The government funds about 120,000 full-time and 40,000 part-time New Zealand students at these universities. This covers some of the cost. In addition, New Zealand students pay fees. Undergraduates pay about $5,000 for a full-time course. International students pay about five times this amount, depending on the course. Medicine, dentistry and engineering are more expensive than an Arts course.
This is the ethnicity of New Zealand students last year: New Zealand European 68%, Maori 9%, Pacific Island 6%, Asian 21%, other 7%. Many people gave more than one ethnicity. There were 22, 291 international students, most of whom were Asian.
There are two semesters. Semester two starts in July. Exams are held in June and the end of October and beginning of November.
Questions
1. Why do international students pay more than New Zealand students?
2. Why are some courses more expensive than others? For example, commerce is usually more expensive than arts.
3. Should universities be free for New Zealand students? |